In this Monday (13) edition of the Medical Correspondent chart, of Novo Dia, the cardiologist Stephanie Rizk – who replaces the neurosurgeon Fernando Gomes, on vacation – comments on a study by the State University of Feira de Santana (UEFS), in Bahia, which found a relationship between obesity and testosterone deficiency in men.
Urologist José Bessa Junior, coordinator of the research that gathered 3,500 male patients between 45 and 64 years old, explained the findings to CNN. “Historically, the drop in testosterone is attributed to aging. As an important message from our study, we cannot demonstrate this difference, the age of men with and without testosterone deficiency was the same.”
“What caught our attention was that obesity was strongly associated with a drop in testosterone levels in any age group. Obese men, with an abdominal waist greater than 110 cm, are five times more likely to have this deficiency than thin men,” he said.
Stephanie Rizk explained the reasons that can generate the disorder, which is directly related to cells in the body. “The fat cell, when it is swollen, has a conversion in the fat tissue itself, as if it worked like a gland. It takes testosterone and converts it to estrogen, the female hormone. In addition, there is also a disorder of the pituitary gland, which coordinates the production of hormones in our body.”
Rizk also discussed the characteristics of testosterone and the risks that the imbalance can bring to the patient. According to the doctor, the situation can become a vicious circle. “It is the male hormone produced mainly by the prostate. Women do too, but in much smaller numbers. The low can bring several problems such as tiredness. Low testosterone itself causes obesity and obesity causes low testosterone. It becomes a vicious circle.”
“It causes a reduction in hair, libido, reproducibility… sometimes, men have a slightly larger chest, which we call gynecomastia,” he said.
For the cardiologist, the discovery is encouraging and can help in the treatment of people who have the clinical picture. In this case, the performance of hormone replacement can be replaced by healthier habits. The prevention of obesity, however, remains unchanged.
“The essentials must always be remembered. Avoid frying, avoid eating sweets, engage in physical activity, get a good night’s sleep… fat patients who end up snoring generate what we call sleep apnea. A bad sleep, the person ends up getting fat. A lifestyle change is always needed.”
The doctor also stated that obesity is not necessarily linked to genetics and that the main factor is the metabolic calculation between “what goes in and what is spent.” Diseases such as hypothyroidism can affect the situation and create difficulties for weight loss, reinforcing the importance of the diagnosis.
The risks associated with obesity, according to Rizk, remain a cause for concern. “Together comes the metabolic syndrome. It’s high cholesterol, high triglyceride, high blood pressure, and we know that it brings a lot of problems. The end of it is heart attack, stroke and a poorer quality of life. We have to treat obesity as a disease when it comes with other ailments”, he concluded.
Reference: CNN Brasil
